Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Team Set Time

The 2017 Staten Island Yankees team set is finally out. Which can only mean one thing, Zippy Zappy is now in beast mode.

Yesterday the Williamsport Crosscutters (PHI) came to town. But thanks to Twitter I knew that the SIY team set was out. I picked up one for me and a friend of mine, and got straight to work on getting the cards signed. As of yesterday the store had yet to have the top prospect set for the NYPL but that will come soon enough.

First up is Trevor Stephan. The Yankees' third rounder from the 2017 MLB player draft, making him the very first 2017 draftee I've acquired an autograph of. So far Stephan's made a few starts for SI and he's looked good in most of them. Armed with a low-to-mid 90's fastball that can reach 97, a curveball and a changeup, Stephan projects to be a solid MLB contributor in some fashion. The Yankees will try to develop him as a starter until he shows he can't anymore, but for now it's looking pretty nice. The 6'4" righthander will likely be in Charleston next year.

Next is one of my personal favorites (my "buddy" you could say) in the Yankees org, Alex Bisacca. Bisacca was drafted by the Yankees in the 35th round of the 2015 MLB Player Draft and has seen some success as a member of various bullpens in the organization. Bisacca remembered me from 2015 and still follows me on Twitter and Instagram to this day. He's a cool dude. I got him some of his cards from Pulaski as a thank you present.

Next up is Jeff Degano, the Yankees' second rounder from 2015.
Degano is another guy who knows me by name now. Which is pretty cool IMHO. Degano is still working his way back from his case of the Yips, but he's making progress. Looking forward to see him rebound in the future.

Will Jones, the Yankees' 28th rounder from 2016, has steadily been a reliable and consistent member of the SIY bullpen this season. As of this post he has 11 strike-outs as opposed to four walks in 10 games.

Yup, got Wilkerman Garcia.
He's proven to be one of the steadier bats on the team this year as a 19 year old while being one of the youngest in the whole league. He even played a key role in this particular game.

It appears that 2017 is the year where whenever I go to SI, Jorge Guzman is pitching (although there are exceptions). The top prospect is having a fine season in SI and he continued his roll with this game where he started. Guzman went five innings, allowing one run and striking out eight batters. He reportedly also hit 101 mph at one point.

Ryan Krill was drafted by the Yankees in the ninth round of the 2015 MLB Player Draft. Unfortunately injuries wrecked his 2016 season and he's making up for lost time this year as a member of the baby bombers. As a first baseman, Krill might be needed in the future if the 1B fiasco that happened this year happens again.

Cesar Diaz was signed by the New York Yankees as a non-drafted free agent back in 2013. His development has been slow but steady. I can't really find a whole lot about him other than how he's a switch hitter who hits for contact.

Justin Kamplain was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 18th round of the 2014 MLB Player Draft. Kamplain was with Staten Island in 2014 but in 2015 the Yankees tried him out as a starter which didn't not end too well. They've shifted him back into a reliever and he's working his way back up the ladder now.

Brian Reyes was originally signed by the New York Yankees as a non-drafted free agent back in 2013. After opening the season with Pulaski Reyes was promoted to Staten Island in late June. He's appeared in four games since then (a byproduct of having four catchers on the active roster).

Reyes had eluded me for a while now because I was looking to get this Pulaski card of signed a while ago. Now I got it and the SIY team card signed too.

Brian Trieglaff was drafted by the Yankees in the 13th round of the 2016 MLB Player Draft. The righty is a power reliever who's success at the higher levels may be contingent on the development of a second pitch.

Next up is Leonardo Molina. Molina has seen his fair share of success and improvements since joining the SI Yankees. He's still refining his approach for the game but he is starting to make some strides.

I actually asked Molina to sign two of his cards. One from the Staten Island Yankees team set and one from the Charleston Riverdogs teamset. I like the look of the Charleston one a bit more, namely due to it showing Molina hustling.

Kendall Coleman was drafted by the Yankees in the 11th round of the 2013 MLB Player Draft. I thought Coleman was poised to go to Charleston this year (and stay there) but unfortunately injuries put him on the shelf for all of spring training. The poor guy just can't catch a break. Hopefully he can finish the year off strong and get back on track soon.

Eduardo Rivera was signed by the New York Yankees as a non-drafted free agent back in 2010. Rivera was the SIY' closer last year before he promoted to Charleston and then Tampa. Rivera is due to be a minor league free agent at the end of this season so he'll have to show the Yankees that he's really worth keeping around. If not, he and his fastball could latch onto a new home.

David Palladino was originally drafted by the Yankees in the fifth round of the 2013 MLB Player Draft. Palladino has been at Staten Island for various parts of the last four years, but the organization's reluctance to let him go is due to how he fits their mold. As in, Palladino is a 6'8" giant. If he can ever harness his pitches, he'd be a legitimate threat in the bullpen. One cool thing is that if Palladino returns to SI for one more year, he'll have sole possession of the title of "longest tenured SI Yankee" at five years.

HARK, A NON-YANKEE!
Yes, this Jhailyn Ortiz was pulled in the Clone Break a few weeks ago and I'd been keeping it safe hoping to get it signed when the Crosscutters came to town. My friend who needed players on the Crosscutters had this signed for me (I had a Stephan card signed for him in return). And boom, I have an orange refractor auto of a top 30 Phillies prospect.

Next up is the Yankees' manager (even though he's listed on the card as a coach), Julio Mosquera. The back of Mosquera's card is quite detailed. Giving an extensive bio about the former Blue Jays/Brewers backstop. Mosquera had a long career in the minor leagues playing for teams like the Jays, Brew Crew, Rays, Rangers, Mariners and the Yankees. Mosquera has been in the Yankees org as a coach for 12 seasons now and according to the card, he's been a key part of developing the likes of Francisco Cervelli and Gary Sanchez.

Here is another coach I was lucky enough to get an autograph from. Travis Phelps.
The back of the card is quite detailed in terms of Phelps' background as well. An 89th rounder by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 1996 MLB player draft (89 drafts!), Phelps had some short MLB stints with Tampa and with Milwaukee but spent most of his time as a journeyman in the minors. He even pitched in indyball for a few years as well. Phelps eventually decided to go behind the scenes by running a training facility and being a sports agent before joining the Yankees as a pitching instructor.

I offered Mr. Phelps a copy of his 2016 card but he just signed it and gave it back to me. Thanks Mr. Phelps!

Last but not least is the second 2017 NYY draftee I got yesterday, Glenn Otto.
Glenn Otto was drafted by the New York Yankees in the fifth round of the 2017 MLB Player Draft. After some brief stints in the GCL, Otto was promoted to Staten Island in late July and hasn't looked back since. Otto is armed with a low 90's fastball, a very good curveball and a work in progress changeup. The outlook for now is that the Yankees will try to develop the righty from Rice University as a starter (like Chance Adams and Josh Rogers before him) until he shows he can't.

Otto was a dominant reliever/closer in college and he's started his professional career in the GCL/Staten Island bullpen as well. He'll likely get stretched out more next year in Charleston or Tampa.

I asked Otto to sign three cards for me (the most from any player on this day). The last two were obtained via an eBay lot the day Otto was drafted. My hunch that he'd be in SI paid off handsomely. The shiny insert from two scans ago is numbered 131/999 and the relic is numbered 105/199.

In all I got 24 autographs yesterday. Which is not my record overall, but is the record for this year. I think it might be the most number of cards I got signed though, I'll have to check. It's pretty tough to compete with the 2014 and 2015 years where I was at peak energy. But I guess 24 isn't a bad number of autographs to get.

As for the game it was a bit of a nail biter. Jorge Guzman gunned down the Crosscutters while allowing a run. Josh Roeder (who wasn't in the team set this year) relieved him and gave up one more run but rebounded for a nice 3.1 inning outing. Kamplain came in the ninth with two batters to go to finish off the game.

For the first few innings the Yankees were hitless but eventually they were able to get a rally going and tie the game in the 6th inning thanks to a two-run single by Kendall Coleman. Wilkerman Garcia had a walk off single in the 9th where he single to right and drove home the newly promoted Andy Diaz.

Oh and around the time the game started I got a ball from Will Jones. Thanks Will!

One final note is that the Yankees had ZERO guys selected for the 2017 New York-Penn League All Star Game. Dafuq? Oh sure, just exclude players from the first place team in the McNamara Division. Like Jorge Guzman who now leads the entire NYPL in strikeouts with 64. Meh, somebody's probably going to game anyway as a sub or something but still, the anti-Yankees bias has emerged. Tony is grinning somewhere.